Chuknagar massacre ( bn, চুকনগর গণহত্যা) was a

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

Bengali Hindus Bengali Hindus ( bn, বাঙ্গালী হিন্দু/বাঙালি হিন্দু, translit=Bāṅgālī Hindu/Bāṅāli Hindu) are an ethnoreligious population who make up the majority in the Indian states of West Benga ...

committed by the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

and local

Razakars Razakar (رضا کار) is etymologically an Arabic word which literally means volunteer. The word is also common in Urdu language as a loanword. On the other hand, in Bangladesh, razakar is a pejorative word meaning a traitor or Judas. In Pakista ...

during the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

in 1971. The massacre took place on 20 May 1971 at Dumuria in

Khulna Khulna ( bn, খুলনা, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of Khulna District and Khulna Division. Khulna's economy is the third-largest in Bangladesh, contributing $53 b ...

and it was one of the largest massacres during the war. According to local estimates, between 10,000 to 12,000 people were killed, though the exact number of persons killed in the massacre is not known. Academic

Sarmila Bose Sarmila Bose is an Indian-American journalist and academic. She has served as a senior research associate at the Centre for International Studies in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford. She is th ...

, in her controversial book. dismisses claims that 10,000 were killed as "unhelpful", and argues that the reported number of attackers could have shot no more than several hundred people before running out of ammunition. The majority of people killed in the massacre were men, although an unknown number of women and children were murdered as well.

Massacre

Chuknagar is a small town at Dumuria of Khulna, adjacent to the Indian border. After the start of the war many people fled from Khulna and

Bagerhat Bagerhat Sadar ( bn, বাগেরহাট সদর) is an upazila of Bagerhat District in the Division of Khulna, Bangladesh. The municipality was established in 1958. It consists of 9 wards and 31 mahallas. History Khan Jahan Ali established ...

. They crossed

Bhodra River Bhodra river (Bengali: ভদ্রা নদী) flows across the Khulna Division of Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the ...

and arrived at Chuknagar to cross the border using Satkhira Road. By 15 May 1971 large numbers of refugees from nearby localities gathered at Chuknagar, as rumors broke out of an impending Pakistani attack. On 20 May, around 10:00, a group of 10-30 Pakistani military personnel equipped with

semi-automatic rifle A semi-automatic rifle is an autoloading rifle that fires a single cartridge with each pull of the trigger, and uses part of the fired cartridge's energy to eject the case and load another cartridge into the chamber. For comparison, a bolt-act ...

s and

light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sam ...

s came on around three trucks. They stopped at a place called Jhautala (then known as Pathkhola) at the left corner of the Chuknagar Bazaar. Then they opened fire on the Pathkhola grounds and later moved to Chuknagar Bazaar and continued firing until 15:00. Many people drowned as they jumped into the river in a largely futile attempt to flee the carnage. Local people later disposed off the dead bodies by throwing them into the river.

Memorial

A memorial was built to pay homage to the people who died in the massacre. The memorial is called ''Chuknagar Shohid Smritishoudho'' or Chuknagar martyred memorial.

Massacre

Memorial

See also

References

Further reading